Big Buddha

There’s nothing old about the enormous Buddha that presides over the mountains of Lantau (it was completed in 1993), but the glass-bottomed cable cars that sweep visitors to its feet make the trip memorable. The 3.5-mile cable-car ride starts near the airport and immediately heads up to the mountains of Lantau, before gliding along the plateau, toward its final destination: the Po Lin monastery. The architect wanted it to be like a pilgrim’s journey to a Tibetan monastery, with the building appearing on the horizon and then gradually drawing closer. Inevitably, being Hong Kong, it is a commercially oriented operation, with shopping opportunities galore at the destination.

For all that, this is the next best thing to a helicopter ride, offering a unique perspective of the largest island, Lantau, and the Big Buddha statue, claimed to be the largest seated outdoor bronze statue of the religious icon.

Indagare Tip: Get tickets ahead of time on the Ngong Ping 360’s Web site to skip the sometimes long lines.